Anderson, a City of of Vernon councillor, is predicting the demise of the BC Liberal Party, and extending an invitation to disenfranchised B.C. Liberal voters to join the BC Conservative Party in their natural home.

There are widespread rumours of deepening divisions between federal Liberal supporters and federal Conservative supporters within the BC Liberal Party in the wake of the recent federal by-election in South Surrey White Rock.

“When you have a federal Conservative MP (Dianne Watts) defecting to run as leader of the BC Liberal Party, and a former BC Liberal MLA (Gordie Hogg) running in her riding for the federal Liberal Party, anyone with a passing interest in politics can see trouble coming,” said Anderson.

“Compound that with the fact that Hogg actually won, taking a seat away from the federal Conservatives and strengthening the Trudeau Liberals, and I can see why conservatives who have held their noses and voted for the BC Liberals in the past have had enough.”

The divisions are not just within the former BC Liberal voter base, said Anderson, but may extend to the leadership as well.

“The Liberals claim to be a coalition of liberals and conservatives, but if the BC Liberal debates are any indication, the leadership is more like a coalition of angry polecats,” said Anderson, referencing fundamental philosophical disagreements between the front runners in the most recent debate.

“Which is to say there is no coalition at all within the leadership and even less between former BC Liberal supporters. I don’t know which will be the death blow to the BC Liberals: the leadership imploding or conservative voters defecting en masse, but I am certain both of those dynamics are in play.

“Small-c conservatives have been betrayed over and over again by the BC Liberals, first by the infamous clone speech that mimicked the BC NDP platform, and now by supporting a federal Liberal Party that has drifted to the far left under Trudeau. Even a heavily whipped party like the BC Liberals can’t hide the fact that a Liberal is a Liberal is a Liberal, and the BC Liberal Party is indistinguishable from Trudeau’s federal Liberal Party.”

Anderson said he welcomes former B.C. Liberal conservative voters to take another look at his party.

“I have no doubt that our philosophy and platform reflects your values far better than those of the dying BC Liberal Party,” he said. “Welcome home.”

The BC Conservative Party endorsed and actively supported Kerry-Lynne Findlay, the federal Conservative candidate in the federal South Surrey White Rock by-election, and, under Anderson’s leadership, will continue to support conservative causes in BC.